Vogue
by Saku-Chan.x
Summary: Sakura has just gotten a job which 'a million girls would kill for'. She was offered a place as the personal assistant to the editor and chief of Vogue Magazine, by her friend Ino. But what happens when the job becomes more than a handful? -On Hiatus-
1. Chapter 1 The Job Offer

**Disclaimer****:** I don't own Naruto!

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**Vogue**

**Chapter 1**

**The Job Offer**

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**Miss Sakura Haruno,**

**You are invited to attend the Hinata Hyuga Collection**

**Starts at 7:00**

**In the Red Dragon Hotel, Tokyo**

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Sakura smiled at the fancy invitation in her hands that she had received from the post, Hinata had planned yet another fashion show. She's just had a burst of inspiration ever since she had visited France with all the fashion shows and whatnot, Hinata had informed Sakura about it just yesterday but wanted to sent her an invitation anyway.

Sakura had just finished university just over a month ago, her friends' also attended and achieved successful stable jobs yet she hasn't even gotten closer to getting her dream job. Sakura had always wanted to be a journalist since she a child, she wasn't exactly the type of person who wanted to be a singer, an actress or a job that included fashion. Which would explain why Hinata had always advised Sakura what she should wear, what colours suited her best etc.

She always took her advice of course, since she didn't trust Ino when it involved picking out clothes. Ino was... how to put it nicely, pretty _extreme _when it came to fashion. Sakura didn't understand why Ino wore such... revealing clothing; she was also disgusted at the fact that she barely eats anything when they all went out for lunch, and if Sakura can remember correctly she had told Sakura that she was only going on a diet because she was trying to lose weight so that she could wear the small size dresses so she can look like a size zero when she travels to Paris with Tsunade.

The trip to Paris was suppose to be the most important event in the fashion year, it was when all of the most finest and greatest fashion designers of all time would all attend the fashion shows and also attend the after show party. Hinata, Ino, Tenten and Temari would all frequently attend, reason being that Hinata was a well known fashion designer, Tenten was a reporter, Temari was a business woman and Ino was the senior personal assistant to the editor and chief of Vogue Magazine.

Sakura, the odd one out just didn't find fashion all that interesting. She was invited to attend the parties of course, but always politely declined. She felt like if she didgo, then she would end up being bored the minute she got there. She was never really a party lover like her friends.

"Sakura-chan, c'mon we need to get ready for Hinata's show!" Tenten called, she was currently in Sakura's bedroom looking at the dresses that she and the other girls would always give Sakura as birthday presents or just treating her out when we went shopping, or rather theyshopped while she gave her opinion on the dresses. If Sakura was being honest, she was never really fond of the shopping trips since they took hoursjust looking through piles and piles of dresses... well apart from Tenten. She didn't like wearing dresses that often, but believe it or not she's actually a tomboy. Sakura was amazed that she could stand shopping sprees _and _sports.

"Alright Tenten-chan, I'm coming." Sakura replied, beginning to walk out of the living room into the bedroom. Sakura's bedroom was medium sized with a double bed with pink and black strips quilt in the middle with a few pictures by the bedside table. There was a wooden desk on the left side with a notebook settled neatly with a pencil with a cherry blossom key ring at the end, and there in the right side was her large wardrobe. Which she had just barely fit all of the clothes her friends bought for her, all the attempts of persuading them that she didn't need any designer clothes were futile, which is why she had to buy a bigger wardrobe just to fit all the stacks of clothes she has.

Sakura opened her wardrobe and spotted Tenten with two dresses in both hands in front of the mirror comparing which one was better, the first dress was a short green dress with a black flower pattern which trailed from the bottom of the strap towards the very end of the dress on the left side of the dress. The design of the dress was quite stunning in Sakura's opinion, but the other dress could have made her think twice. The second dress was a blue strapless dress with a black belt wrapped around the waist and on the opposite side, there was a bow. The fabric of the dress was layered by the middle section of the dress and carried on with the design until the dress had reached the knee.

"Aw, those are cute dresses Tenten-chan." Sakura commented, observing the two dazzling dresses that were occupying the brunette's tanned hands.

Tenten turned around and smiled at Sakura, "Thanks Sakura-chan, I can't seem to decide between the two!" Tenten whined her facial expression from a smile quickly melted into a deep frown when her gaze returned to look back and forth between the two dresses. Sakura laughed as she walked over to her friend to help her choose the dress that she was going to wear at the show.

Tenten ended up choosing the green dress, since the two girls had spent at least ten minutes thinking which dress which is better. Sakura didn't have any problems picking her dress since she didn't mind what she wore; the dress that she ended up picking was a spaghetti strap red dress, it flowed down to the middle of her thigh. The design was almost plain since there wasn't many accessories included, but Tenten pinned a pink flower on the left strap of the dress so that there would be some sort of feature on the dress. The accessories that Sakura had chose to wear were a pair of red hoops and several bracelets occupying one wrist with a black watch on the other, her hair was made into perfect curls that framed her heart shaped face which eventually stopped around the shoulders.

Tenten on the other hand was wearing black flower dangling earrings, with some different colour bead bracelets hanging by each of her wrists. Her hair was tied into a neat bun, she also decided to leave a strand of curled hair on each side of her face; they took it in turns to apply the makeup on the faces which roughly took about five to ten minutes, then they-_**Tenten**_ decided to use nail polish and chose black while Sakura picked cherry red.

"So Tenten-chan, what's the theme of this fashion show?" Sakura questioned, as Tenten painted her nails. Sakura had finished doing Tenten's nails a few moments ago. Hinata's past themes were really amazing; she did Japanese themes, French themes, Chinese themes and many other fantastic themes. Sakura isn't surprised by Hinata's talents since she had started designing her own clothes when they were in high school.

"Hmm..." Tenten paused, as she continued to paint Sakura's nail before remembering "I think she said something about the beginning of spring." She finished, as she put the nail polish brush back into the bottle. Spring, that's not actually a bad idea. Apart from the fact that it's wasn't spring _yet_, they were still in February!

"But doesn't spring start in March?" Sakura inquired, she could understand why she didn't pick winter as a theme since it was almost over but she was a bit confused why she had picked spring a few weeks early.

"I'm not sure; maybe she has something else planned for March." Tenten replied, shrugging offhandedly. But little did Sakura know that they were actually planning something for her birthday that month, it was pretty obvious so it was weird why Sakura didn't notice it sooner. And since Sakura had mentioned that she didn't want a party, they all decided to throw her a surprise birthday anyway. This was because of two reasons, reason one they knew Sakura was going to end up forgiving them anyway and reason two they basically wanted an excuse to throw a party.

Sakura nodded as she looked at her watch, it was 6:30. They had about thirty minutes to get there, which was good since it wouldn't take that long to get there. "Okay Tenten, let's go." Sakura said, beginning to walk towards the door and reached for her black coat from the hook which was occupied right next to the door. "Alright, Sakura-chan!" Tenten chirped, as she bounced off the bed and grabbed her own dark green coat.

Sakura opened the door and waited for her brunette friend to walk out before locking the door with her key, she would always have spare keys just in case she had lost one. The key was surrounded by almost a dozen key rings attached to the metal ring; the designs were mostly cherry blossoms and some other chibi designs. Sakura luckily lived on the bottom floor so she didn't have to deal with the troublesome elevator, which she heard rarely worked due to the bad wiring in the building.

"So Tenten-chan, are we going there by cab?" Sakura asked, as she opened the front door and stepped into the cold air. The breeze was indeed refreshing, but had also resulted in making Sakura shiver from the cold, bitter air. Sakura didn't normally go out in the evening; instead she liked to take advantage of being alone, so she would change into her pyjamas and make herself a warm cup of hot chocolate with little marshmallows watching romance films, yeah she wasn't exactly what you would call 'out going'. She liked her own company, but was almost never alone since her lovelyfriends would usually pop up out of the blue and bug her to death.

Tenten blinked in confusion before taking out her car keys, Sakura inwardly twitched. She should have known Tenten was going to bring it, since she didn't normally anywhere without it.

"Nah, I brought my car instead." She answered, as she turned off the car alarm with one swift move and began to walk towards the black Mercedes car.

"Show off," Sakura muttered under her breath, she was the only one in the group who didn't own a flashy car or _any_ car for that matter. She preferred walking as it was good exercise, especially in the hot summer, oh how she missed the heat.

Luckily, the traffic jams weren't that bad so they arrived earlier than expected. Tenten parked the car in front of the building as she handed her keys to the hotel porter and Sakura stepped beside her friend as she stared in awe at the most exquisite hotel she had ever seen. This was actually the most popular hotel for rich people, since they usually organised events there such as award shows, fashion shows and other shows aswell.

"Hinata must have been lucky to get a spot here." Sakura said, as they entered the hotel. The lobby was painted in ruby red with dragons engraved on the ceiling; there were also number of dragon statues that filled the room and the room was packed with guests were wearing elegant and fancy clothing.

"Not really, she could have arranged the show somewhere else." Tenten responded with a shrug, this _was _true but this place was probably one of the best locations to organise the fashion shows. This hotel had a reputation of only organising the best events. The majority of reviews this hotel had were good; there were also an impressive amount of celebrities that stayed there.

"But, I thought this was the best place to arrange an event?" Sakura replied,

Tenten sighed as she glanced over to Sakura and grinned at the rosette "Well Sakura-chan, although this is one of the best. Hinata could have arranged the fashion show in a different country," She explained, her gaze flickering back in front of her.

"And it usually doesn't matter where you arrange a fashion show, what matters is what is _shown _in the show" She continued, Sakura nodded in understanding. A fashion show would probably be a disaster if the clothes weren't up to a satisfying standard, "But what also matters is Tsunade's opinion."

"Tsunade's opinion?" Sakura repeated, evidently confused.

Tenten nodded "Yeah, Tsunade is basically the leader of the fashion world. If she doesn't like the clothes then the person would obviously have to redo her or his collection" She answered sighing, Tsunade wasn't the friendliness person in the world since in most pre-shows she wouldn't have to voice her opinions because her facial expressions said it all.

Sakura blinked, "They would have to redo their entire collection if _she _just says she doesn't like them?" Sakura inquired, bewildered at the fact that people actually take her crap. But then again, she was the leader of the fashion world. So it meant that only her opinion matters, she never could understand how Ino would work under such an awful person. But if you wanted to be somebody in the fashion world, then Tsunade was the best person you could ever get the chance to work for. That is if you can endure her ruthless demands.

They had already reached the ball room where there was a body guard standing in front of the door, Tenten showed him her invitation and Sakura did the same and they were both let into the room. "Yeah cruel I know, but without her the fashion world wouldn't survive." Tenten sighed, Sakura pondered for a moment. Was Tsunade _that _important?

"Sakura-chan! TenTen-chan!"

A squeal was heard, and one thought had crossed their minds.

Hinata.

There she was in a small midnight blue dress with black fingerless gloves. Her hair was layered so it was long at the back and was short in the front, and a big smile adored her happy face, which was pretty much contagious to the two girls who couldn't help but return the smile.

"Aw! I'm so glad you guys could made it, Ino and Temari had arrived a couple of minutes before you. Temari's just popped to the toilet and Ino's just had a call from Tsunade." Hinata piped, but her voice had lowered when Tsunade's name was included.

Tenten sighed, "What does she want now?" She questioned, they all knew how Tsunade could get... demanding whenever she called Ino. The only reason why she would ever call Ino is when something either goes wrong or she just needs her dry cleaning or some nonsense like that.

"She informed Ino that the newest junior personal assistant has been yet _another_ disappointment and now it's up to Ino to find her someone who doesn't have a memory of a goldfish." She stated, rolling her eyes.

To make a long story short, the junior personal assistants never did last for more than a few days before getting themselves fired for forgetting small things and also due to the fact that they just couldn't handle the stress of working under Tsunade.

"Wow, Ino's life isn't getting any easier with Tsunade around." Tenten said, a look of sympathy appeared on her face. Hinata nodded, her blank expression changed into a frown "I don't know why she even works for someone like her." She muttered, her eyes narrowed darkly.

"Hey guys, I guess Hinata told you the news." Ino said, as she dropped her phone into her purse.

"Yeah we heard, what are you going to do Ino?" Sakura inquired, her gaze flickering over to the blonde woman. She was wearing a bright long yellow dress, with gold bracelets on each wrist. The dress made her glow yet the glow didn't reach her expression.

"I'm not sure at the moment" Ino replied, as she closed her eyes. She didn't know anyone looking for a job, well Sakura was but she didn't have any interest in fashion _however _it could get her more opportunity of becoming a journalist. Since Tsunade had a large amount of connections so there would be many chances if Sakura worked for Tsunade, even if it was for a short amount of time.

"_Well_ Sakura-chan, I was just wondering if you were still looking for a job" Ino inquired, smiling as she practically gave it away that she was hinting that she was going to offer her job of being the newest junior personal assistant to the one and only Tsunade.

Sakura blinked, before slowing nodding "Yeah, why?" Sakura answered she suddenly felt suspicious of Ino, she already knew she was looking for a job.

Hinata and Tenten exchanged quick glances "Ino, you're not insinuating that Sakura would be suitable for the job?" They questioned in union, with raised eyebrows.

Ino grinned as if it was obvious "Of course I am, Sakura has a lot of potential in her. It would be a shame just to let it be wasted!" She responded, her tone from glum quickly turned into very enthusiastic, it was either two reasons. Reason one, Sakura was finally going to get a job even though it happened to have the worst boss ever to roam the earth. Or reason two; she didn't have to deal with the stress that she had to find Tsunade a new assistant.

"Ino, you're just trying to get out of finding Tsunade a new assistant!" Tenten accused, pointing her index finger at the blonde.

"No I'm not! I'm just helping Sakura finally get nearer to her dream job! Gosh, when I do something nice. You guys always think I'm doing the opposite dammit!" Ino argued, her eyes narrowed at the brunette.

"Guys! C'mon, let's not get into a fight here!" Hinata cried, pushing herself between the two as she tried to stop them from fighting, but it seemed that Hinata was getting squished between the glaring pair.

Sakura signed and thought for a moment, if she _did _consider the job then she could eventually became a journalist and help Ino not having to interview mindless girls with memories of a goldfish tomorrow morning.

"Alright Ino, I'll... be the new assistant" Sakura forced herself to get those five dreadful words that she _knew_ she was definitely going to regret in the morning.

"Yay! You're the best Sakura-chan!" Ino cried as she glomped her unexpected friend, who attempted to push her off but couldn't due to her friend's inhuman strength and awkwardly patted her back instead.

Hinata and Tenten on the other hand weren't happy with the situation but decided to overlook Sakura's sudden burst of madness and did what any normal people would do.

"Remind me to get her medication in the morning." Hinata joked, nodding to Tenten.

"Yeah, let's hope that'll knock some sense into that thick skull of hers." Tenten agreed, sharing a grin with the Hyuuga heiress.

"I heard that!" Sakura shouted, as she pushed her dim witted friend off her and stomped towards the fashion show with a grinning Ino trailing behind her.

Hinata and Tenten giggled as they followed them to the seats.

Yeah, didn't Sakura have some... _lovely _friends?

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**Edited: 18/02/10**

**A/N: **So...I hope you guys liked this! I wanted to try a fashion story since a few days ago, I actually had inspiration to write this from a fashion based film called 'The Devil Wears Prada' but I'm not going to follow everything in the film –I have my own plots!

So please review!

~Saku-chan ^_^


	2. Chapter 2 Day 1 Coffee Spills

Disclaimer: Me own Naruto? Nope, Nada!

Vogue

Chapter 2

Day 1: Spilled Coffee

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Today was the day, the same day that Sakura had been dreading since Hinata's fashion show; and speaking of Hinata's show, it was a complete success! But this was expected of Hinata, since her creativity could surpass _even_ Tsunade –who was obviously known as the genius of fashion.

Sakura couldn't suppress her yawn as she poured her coffee into her mug and started to walk out of the kitchen with the cup in hand, once she had entered her bedroom she swallowed one last gulp of coffee which had almost instantly woken herself up before she settled her mug onto her clean, well organised desk.

Sometimes she wished she wasn't as nice as people make her out to be, because if she wasn't –she wouldn't have to deal with situations like these. But she couldn't exactly back out now, considering the circumstances... Ino wouldn't be happy with her and would end up resorting to using the famous 'puppy dog face'.

Yes, Sakura was _definitely_ a sucker for the puppy dog face.

Sighing, she opened her wardrobe doors wide and began searching for an outfit to wear. Although Ino decided to make a big deal of what she would wear on her first day, Sakura didn't particularly give a damn what people thought about how she dressed; besides she liked her clothes –even if Ino didn't.

Sakura started looking through clothes before deciding on a red shirt and black skinny jeans; it was simple enough for Sakura. She was proud to say that she didn't spend hours wondering what to wear to work; it would simply just be a waste of time.

Once she had finishing changing, she briefly inspected her reflection in her mirror and smiled in approval before reaching for her make-up bag, which was given to her by her close friend Temari who travelled all around the world as she was a business woman. She only applied mascara before adding a tint of lip-gloss. Taking one last glance in the mirror, she nodded in approval as she stepped out of her wardrobe and into her living room while plopping herself onto her black stylish couch as she absently rubbed her forehead, she had a feeling that today _wasn't_ going to be a good day. But then again, it was a _Monday_.

Abruptly, her train of thoughts were interrupted by her phone ringing. Sakura inwardly groaned, as scooted over to the other end of the couch before reaching for her bag to pick up the vibrating phone that was now occupying her hand as she pressed the button before pulling the object at a reasonable distance to her ear.

"Billboard brow!" Sakura twitched at the nickname that Ino had been using until this very day, but she would be grateful if Ino-_pig _would stop and actually act mature for once in her life.

"Ino-pig." Sakura replied, not really paying attention to the conversation as she grabbed her bag from the floor and started to check through her bag, just in case she had forgotten anything.

"Sakura, can you do me a favour?" Ino questioned, her tone coated with fake sweetness. Sakura rolled her eyes she should have expected this from Ino. Since she regularly asked Sakura for favours, which do tend to get on anyone's nerves when they constantly nag you even if you decline nicelythe first time.

"What can I do for you _this_ time Ino?" Sakura answered with a false cheerful tone dripping in her words, obviously Ino wouldn't get the hint that Sakura didn't really feel like doing her yet _another _favour. She was right in the middle of a favour –the same favour why she was actually bothering to get up on a _Monday morning_.

"Well, since I already have to pick up some important items for Tsunade. You can help me by getting some Starbucks Coffee for Tsunade; she normally has a cappuccino so remember to make sure that it's still hot when you arrive. Oh and before I forget, get me a Caffé Mocha! Thanks Sakura Ciao!"

Then, the line went dead.

"Figures she would make me get the coffee." Sakura muttered, as she stood up and quickly stretched before taking a quick glance at the wall clock. She quickly checked if she'll have any time to pick up the coffee _and _get to work on time. But she had finally realised something.

Work started at 9:30... And it was already 9:15.

"Oh just great!" Sakura hissed, as she grabbed her bag and make a quick dash towards the door before hastily pulling the door opening, almost ripping the hard object off its hinges before she closed the door shut and pulling out a set of keys with a range of cherry blossom key rings with others hanging on the key chain –which Sakura was silently cursing at that moment before finding the desired key and locked the door and hurried out of her apartment as she dropped her keys in her bag and attempting at calling a taxi.

Oh how she despised Ino right now.

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"Excuse me!" Sakura said, as she pushed herself passed people obviously rushing to get to work on time. It wouldn't be impressive if she _was _late, which is something that doesn't happen since Sakura is known for being quite punctual.

Thankfully there wasn't a long queue in Starbucks, so she didn't have to worry about waiting in line for a cappuccino and a Caffé Mocha which she was tempted to throw away or maybe even drink it herself (since Ino didn't _really _deserve it) and pretend that she had 'forgotten' to get it or just make a reasonable excuse.

Like actually _getting_ to work on time, since Ino didn't seem affected by the idea of being late as she told Sakura that she didn't usually work much, as it was the junior assistant who had the most work as Tsunade enjoyed making their lives a living hell.

Sakura couldn't suppress her sigh of relief as she arrived at the building; she glanced at her watch and smiled -9:25 and there she thought she would be late!

The smile still plastered on her cherry coloured lips, stepping towards the door and reached her hand near the door knob but was stopped by the door man opening the door with a welcoming smile. Sakura blinked, confused that she hadn't realised his presence there until now.

"Good Morning Miss."

Sakura returned the greeting as she wandered into the building, heading straight for the elevator as she could see it was strangely empty and took the chance to use it to her advantage so she didn't have to walk up the stairs.

But as she turned around the corner, she had somehow managed to collide into a very solid _wall_. Which had resulted in her fall back due to impact, and groaned as she felt pain struck throughout her body as her backside came into contact with the hard floor and the realisation had finally hit her, the cappuccino didn't happen to spill... did it?

She quickly looked to the drink holder that was currently occupied in her had, and sighed in relief as she spotted Tsunade's drink... but Ino's had magically disappeared.

"Oh great, I have a stupid coffee stain on my shirt, yeah!"

Sakura froze, _so that's where Ino's drink had run off to? _She thought to herself, as she pondered on the idea of running away and getting away as far as she could from him. Who knows what he'd do to her, since she had heard from Ino that not everyone here wasn't exactly what a normal person would call 'nice'.

But her politeness had kicked in and she couldn't help but help the poor guy, since it was partly her fault that the hot drink was spilled onto his shirt.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking—"

"Yeah you _better_ be sorry, yeah!"

"Deidara, it wasn't her fault." Sakura nervously looked up to see two attractive men, and from their looks she presumed that the blonde haired man was Deidara –reason being he had a noticeable coffee stain on his _white _shirt with a scowl currently presence in his expression.

"Hey! Are you implying that it was _my _fault Sasori?!" Deidara growled his eyes narrowed, unable to control the growing anger raging in the pit of his stomach. Although, this girl didn't have much taste in fashion she _was _cute...

"Deidara, it was an accident. Get over it." Sasori stated firmly, his attention swiftly changed from his irritated friend to the pinkette's frozen figure on the floor. He sighed as he ignored the blonde's complaining and momentarily glanced in Sakura's direction and a slight sympathetic expression flashed on his face, as he held out a hand to the oblivious girl who was still on the floor.

Sakura, being unaware of the situation didn't notice the offered hand until her gaze hit onto a nearby clock which she mentally read out **9:28**... Which had resulted in Sakura's eyes widening as she scrambled to her feet still ignoring the gesture that Sasori had bothered to do and sprinted around the corner to the closing elevator.

Deidara and Sasori watched on as they observed the _obviously _new girl dash for the now closed elevator while visibly and _loudly_ cussing as she stamped her foot in an immature-like manner before unwillingly walking quickly in the _stairs _direction.

Sasori chuckled as he continued his watch on the pinkette, it wasn't everyday that they got some interesting fresh meat. And the good news was that she was only a floor away, his day was getting better already.

"Aw Sasori, you scared her away." Deidara pouted, his anger and frustration quickly melted into depression over the absent of the pink haired beauty.

Twitching in irritation, he struggled with his sudden urge to strangle his oblivious friend.

"Deidara, Get to Work. _Now_" Sasori managed to utter sternly without loosing his temper.

The blonde glanced at his red haired companion, wondering why his attitude had changed to even more impatient then again... it had happened _after _that girl left. Deidara pondered on the thought, feeling an abrupt suspiciousness about his friend's behaviour. But grinned after an idea hit him, and then an actual hit had happened. Obviously knocking some brain cells out of the unexpected blonde's head, who began to sulk as he was forcefully dragged by a certain annoyed red head.

"Hey Sasori! What the hell was that for! I think you just knocked some brain cells out!" Deidara attempted to do the famous 'death glare' at Sasori, but it had the opposite effect as Sasori simply brushed it off.

"Hn, well knowing you Deidara you didn't have any to start with." Sasori said, ignoring _yet _another Deidara's badversion of the 'death glare'.

And started thinking about a particular pinkette.

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After a quick dart up the lengthystairs, and even being out of breath _and _out of shape she had counted that she had travelled at least _20 _stairs. No exaggeration intended. Then again, she did lose count after 5...

"Sakura, is that you?"

The pinkette instantly recognized that voice, that same damn voice that got her _late_ and made her travel the damned stairs! After that exercise, she would have compared the stairs to Mount Everest. Yes, Sakura obviously didn't work out that often.

"Yes _Ino_." Sakura replied, stepping into the office with two desks on either side of the room. One was currently occupied with Ino's... junk and the other was completely wiped of anyone's belongings, so that it looked like a plain wooden desk.

"Gosh Sakura, where were you? I've been waiting for you for ages!" Ino cried, pouting at Sakura who wasn't affected by Ino since she was taking a moment to ignore Ino and gaze around the professionally designed room.

"Oh, I see you brought Tsunade's cappuccino... but where's mine?!" Ino's tone started off serious then back to its original annoying pitch.

"Well, that would explain why I arrived late..." Sakura trailed off, avoiding Ino's curious stare.

"Huh? Oh Sakura tell me!" Ino demanded, Sakura could already spot a curious glint in her eyes and could sense that Ino was going to find out what happened, even if she wasn't going to tell her. Since Ino was well known in this building, there was bound to be someone who noticed the little accident that took place earlier this morning. Sakura could tell that gossip would spread quicker here than when she was in high school, but the rumours were much more... exaggerated and probably untrue.

"Well, I _was _carrying your drink. Until I ended up spilling it on this guy—"

"This guy? Which guy?! Tell me!" Ino rushed the words so quickly that Sakura could hardly catch up, but Sakura did manage to grasp the words 'guy and tell me'. Typical, Ino was still boy crazy as she's ever been.

"Well... if I remember correctly, their names were Deidara and Sasori—"

"Deidara and Sasori!? Those two are _soo _hot!" Ino squealed like a school girl, which made Sakura sweatdrop from just watching the insane girl in front of her. Well, at least no one was around to watch _that_.

"Umm _right_... So is Tsunade here yet?" Sakura inquired, thankfully breaking Ino out of her 'boy crazy' mood.

"Oh no, she was called into a meeting." Ino answered nonchalantly, as she stepped back over to her own personalized desk. Leaving a confusing Sakura, with a now very _cold _cappuccino in her hand –why didn't she mention that on the phone?

"A meeting? Then why bother to ask me to get her a cappuccino?" Sakura questioned, still baffled that Ino had just left her alone without setting her some work to get on with.

"Oh well, she had just left a few minutes before you had actually arrived...sorry" Ino apologized, sending Sakura a half hearted look before inspecting her perfectly manicured nails. Oblivious to the fact, that Sakura still had no work to do.

"Ino, did she mention any work for me?" Sakura asked, getting annoyed that Ino had just forgotten about her.

Ino blinked before slowly turning her head to stare in Sakura's direction, pondering on if Tsunade had told her anything about the new girl –Sakura.

"Umm..." She drawled, still thinking.

"..."

A few seconds passed...

"Well do you remember or not Ino?" Sakura demanded impatiently, tapping her foot, evidently showing her irritation.

Ino bit her lower lip in thought before realising what Tsunade had told her, she turned to Sakura grinning.

"Tsunade told me to left some papers in your top drawer; you're supposed to meet some people that Tsunade couldn't see personally."

"Meet someone...?" Sakura repeated, confused.

"Yeah, Tsunade was meant to see them but you already know that she was held somewhere else. So I guess you're the lucky one to fill in for her." The grin was still in place, as she turned to face her computer screen and began typing. The only sound in the room was the echoing of the buttons of the key board being pressed.

"Oh... alright I guess" Sakura shrugged, she supposed this was better than being stuck in a room doing office work, with Ino was a bit of a down point.

Sakura walked over to her desk before pulling the top drawer and instantly finding the papers and pulled them out, and boy there were a _lot _of papers! This seemed enough to interview five or more people, but who was she interviewing again?

"Ino... do you by any chance know who I will be interviewing?" Sakura inquired, closing the top drawer as she wandered over to her side of the room. Smiling when she spotted a picture of Ino, her and the girls on a girl's night out, well that was definitely a night she couldn't forget. Ah, good times Sakura thought.

"Well, to be honest. Nope"

A surprised look flashed onto Sakura's face, why wouldn't she know who she was meeting? Tsunade was the person who had told her... then again Ino couldn't have possibly remembered _that _much, Sakura was just impressed that she had actually listened to most of the information that was said to her.

"So yeah, where was I supposed to meet them?" Sakura said, beginning to step over to the door.

"Floor 3, the first room to the right." Ino answered simply, that well was just enough for Sakura. She didn't need Ino to go babbling on about some nonsense since she was already running late.

"Alright, see you at lunch then Ino." Sakura gave her a smile as she left the room, heading straight for the elevator instead of the stairs. No way was she going there _again_.

But she could have sworn she heard Ino shout "Nice outfit Billboard brow!" and couldn't help but smile.

It was kind of like the old times.

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Sakura briefly checked a clock that was engraved just above the reception desk, **9:34**. She _really _needed to wear a watch tomorrow, since she had been checking the time on several occasions. But considering that she was indeed in a rush this morning, it couldn't be helped.

Not bothering to rush anymore, since she had made it quicker to the room than she would have gotten by using the stairs. She arrived at the meeting room, expecting somebody to be there, when they really wasn't anyone _there_.

Sighing, she plopped herself down into a chair, her fingers tapping in rhythm on the desk. This was obviously some sort of practical joke, since Ino did pull them every now and then or maybe because she was classified the 'new girl' it was official that she had to be the victim of being pranked on the very first day. She rubbed her temples as she closed her eyes and breathed in and out, trying to calm herself down. She didn't want to end up going on the rampage to get to Ino, and probably hurting innocent bystanders who were near by wasn't a good idea. And nether is getting fired on the first day.

Keeping her eyes closed, she heard footsteps behind her and inwardly twitched. It was most probably Ino, and was going to laugh at her for falling for her trick and do something childish and whatnot.

As they got closer, she half expected that Ino would have called out by now... but instead, she had received _silence._

Getting suspicious, she snapped her eyes open. "Ino, I know it's you. You don't have to be so quiet" Sakura remarked, as she turned around and saw... not Ino.

But five guys standing in front of her, and not sign of Ino... Well this was probably one of the most embarrassing moments of her life, she had just shouted at complete _strangers_.

Well, not complete strangers but _the _Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Gaara, _and_ Neji Hyuga. They were well known business men that could easily make any girl faint without even saying anything, _yes _they were considered to have god-like features.

Sakura, not being the fan girl and decided to act calm and to not scream out love confessions like a certain blonde girl would do if _she _were here.

"Excuse me, but are you Sakura Haruno?"

"..."

Oh. My. God. They. Know. My. Name.

"..."

Insert Fan girl squeal.

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**Edited: 18/02/10**

**A/N1: **Okay so you guys are wondering, I've edited some parts but left others the way they are as they didn't really make much sense ^^

**A/N2**- Hello Guys ^^ I apologize for this late update, but I hope that you liked it =D I decided to add in Deidara and Sasori because... I felt like it =3 besides who doesn't like a good SasoriXSakuraXDeidara triangle? ^^ I sure do! And yeah, Sasuke, Naruto, Gaara and Neji didn't speak well at _all_ in this chapter, but they _will _in the next!

Reviewers: (Yes, I've decided to put the reviews here!)

??? – Thanks! Here's the next update ^^

CrazyGreyWolfGirl – Aw thanks for reviewing =D It's always a pleasure seeing your review, it's always so positive! So yeah, here's the next update!

cool44 – Thank you! Well I hope you like this chapter!

Shubhs – Yeah, I guess! =3 Thanks for reviewing!

Geniusly-Unique – Thank you very much! –Bows– Glad you enjoyed the last chapter, and I hope you also like this one!

So yeah, Thank you guys for reviewing –and for the people who either story alerted or favourite this story! ^^

Thanks again, and see you guys in another story! Oh and please review! ^^

Saku-Chan


	3. Chapter 3 Old Friends & Double Dates

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own Naruto.

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Chapter 3

Old Friends & Double Dates?

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"Sakura,"

"..."

Twitch.

"Sakura, get up."

"..."

Vein Pop.

"Sakura, I swear if you don't get up. I'm pouring ice down your shirt."

_Yawn._

Two vein pops.

Sigh, "Oh Sakura, Tsunade's here."

Sakura's eyes snapped open as the mere thought of her boss coming immediately brought her senses back and _attempted _to make a quick dash for her desk, only to find that she had lounging on the leather couch and instead of walking towards her desk she ended up falling **flat **on her face.

One word: _Ouch_.

"Ah...." Sakura moaned, as she quickly kneed on her knees and rubbed her sore forehead.

"Heh, it's your own fault you dozed off Sakura."

Blinking, Sakura didn't recognise the voice and raised her head high enough so she could take a glance at the speaker. She was currently in _Ino's _seat doing _Ino's _paperwork...

Hey, speaking of Ino where is she...?

"Excuse me, but where Ino is... and who are you?" Sakura inquired, leaning her fist into her cheek as she sat cross legged on the pearl white tiled floor as she inwardly winced as the impact of the fall was starting to take its toll.

The woman rolled her eyes as she settled the papers she was working on down and turned to face her and pushed her designer glasses back in place.

"Unfortunately, Ino had to step in to help with the meeting that _you _had failed to complete. I am Karin, head writer for the magazine."

Sakura nodded, as she pushed herself off the tiled floor and somehow managed to regain her balance as she brushed herself off.

"Before Ino left, she said that you have to go to floor five and retrieve some importantpapers from the reprographics room."

Nodding once more, Sakura walked over to the door and heard Karin call something out before she had stepped out the room. "And try notto faint this time, Sakura."

'Faint? I actually..._fainted _in front of the most famous guys in Japan!' Her emerald eyes widened in horror, feeling a light blush of embarrassment colour her cheeks.

'Oh great, just _bloody_ great. Now Ino's probably going to be bragging about that.'

Sakura tried to stay focused this time round when she walked in the hallways, she didn't want to have go through this morning's disaster to happen _again_. Once the elevator was in sight, Sakura hurried quickly into the considerably cosy lift to make sure she wouldn't miss it and pressed the number five button to secure that it would arrive there shortly.

She ran a hand through her pink hair as she sighed in relief; there was _no _way in hell that she was going down those mountain-like stairs again! Well, unless she missed the elevator of course...yeah, _as if_.

The elevator's doors slowly glided, gradually losing view of the floor until a hand pressed itself against the door before a figure slided himself into the small elevator.

He sighed in what it seemed relief as he reached out to press one of the buttons before leaning against the wall casually.

Sakura paid him no attention as her thoughts were consumed with thoughts of Ino, being the arrogance girl she was. No doubt she was going to rub in the fact that she had the chance of meeting the most famous guys in Japan.

_Ding._

Sakura's thoughts were brought to a halt when the sound of the elevator doors 'dinged' as a sign that she had already reached her assigned floor. Once she stepped out, she walked where she assumed was he reprographics room.

However, when Sakura was about to turn a corner, she heard someone shouting in her direction and looked back to the elevator. The guy lifted up a red rose clip, the same one that she used this morning... then as realisation dawned upon her, she hurried over to the male before accepting the clip back gratefully then pivoting on her heel she didn't notice the curious gaze that followed her until the elevator's doors smoothly shut back into place.

Thankfully, the reprographics room wasn't too hard to find so that Sakura could relax, there was a pestering thought about the male she had just encountered...he seemed _strangely_ familiar, but that was momentarily forgotten as Sakura twisted the door open and stepped inside, instantly noticing the walls were plastered in different covers of Vogue. The room was surprising quiet, reason being that it was barely a figure in sight.

"Hello? Anyone here...?" The pink haired woman called, slipping past the door before softly shutting it behind her. Once Sakura had taken a good look around, it turned out that the room was larger than she expected.

Sakura assumed that this was only the first room, as she noticed that there were a couple of rooms behind this one.

"Excuse me miss, but May I ask are you Sakura Haruno?"

Distracted by her thoughts, she noticed a figure instantly popping into the room. A rather _familiar_ looking figure, Sakura couldn't put her finger on it. Who did this person remind her of?

"Oh yes, I am Sakura Haruno." The said girl answered politely, adding a friendly smile with the lingering curious thoughts of who this person who.

"Sakura, do you not remember me?" He inquired, holding some papers in his hand –which Sakura resumed was the documents that she was assigned to get.

She blinked in confusion before slowly shaking her head, "Uh no, I'm afraid I don't recall meeting you sorry—"

"Sakura, it's _me _Shikamaru!" He cried, almost on the verge of frantically shaking the poor girl for forgetting about him –who was suppose to be one of her _guy _best friends when they were in school.

Sakura blinked, before launching herself onto the startled male.

"Shika-kun!" Sakura cried out, as she hugged him fiercely while happy comically tears burst out of her emerald eyes.

The male sighed; this woman didn't _even _recognise him until he had revealed it to her. Sakura's still as troublesome as ever, but probably more mature now –unlike in her pranking days.

"Wow Shika-kun, you've grown really tall." Sakura smiled brightly as she finally released the poor guy from her brutal grasp.

"And uh..." Shikamaru trailed off, not really noticing anything different about Sakura. She's practically looks the same like she did before they drifted apart, and went separate ways.

"Well?" Sakura urged, a curious glint flashed upon her green eyes as she carefully watched the male trying to come up with an answer.

"Uh, you've grown tall too...?" He offered, as a nervous laugh escaped his lips and watched the reaction of the usually short tempered pinkette.

Sakura stayed motionless for a moment, leaving Shikamaru to think only the worse as he inwardly braced himself of the severe rage of the pink haired girl.

"Really...?" She inquired almost innocently as an impassive expression appeared on her face, not giving away any sign of what Sakura was actually feeling.

Shikamaru slowly nodded; slightly confused by the sudden mood swing that Sakura was in. Honestly, she was just _so _unpredictable. You could never tell whether she was in a good mood or in a bad mood.

Which was exactly the reason why he couldn't help but feel slightly intrigued by this rather _odd _behaviour, but then again –Sakura had that effect on him the first day they met.

"Aww, that's _sooo _sweet of you to notice Shika-kun!" Sakura squealed, and proceeded to again launch herself onto the unexpected guy.

A small smile tugged at the ends of Shikamaru's lips, although this woman was indeed _troublesome. _He didn't mind dealing with it, as long as it was Sakura.

"I've missed you Shika-kun." Sakura mumbled into his shirt while she continued to snuggle him, as if he were a teddy bear. While Shikamaru on the other hand, the moment she attacked him _again _and snuggled him –well he was having a pretty hard time trying to resist the temptation of hugging back and doing something he would regret.

The moment seemed to last a couple more minutes as Shikamaru attempted to pull her arms away but only to earn a grumble from Sakura as she had refused to let go of her long lost friend, muttering something about certain ungrateful best friends who didn't like hugs.

But when Sakura did lean back out of Shikamaru's grasp, he seemed to actually miss the warmth that she had provided but also that he thought that she fit _perfectly _in his arms. "So Sakura—"He started, only to be stopped by a hand from Sakura who was in the middle of searching the contains of her bag until her hand reached back up to reveal a vibrating phone.

"Hello, Sakura Haruno speaking."

"Sakura, where _are_ you? I thought Karin send you upstairs to retrieve some papers for me." Ino's irritated voice rang throughout the room, as Sakura inwardly groaned. She was so caught up with the moment of catching up with her friend that the papers had momentarily slipped out of her thoughts.

"Gomenasai Ino, I'm coming now." Sakura grabbed the papers from Shikamaru while quickly making her way out of the room.

"Wait Sakura! I was wondering if you wanted—"Shikamaru called after her, but failed in finishing the sentence as the pink haired beauty disappeared out of the room.

"—to go out for coffee." He finished lamely, as disappointment rushed upon him and leaned against the desk. He sighed before heading back into his work, but couldn't concentrate properly as he struggled with his thoughts that only consisted of Sakura.

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Sakura raced through the quiet floor as she hurried towards the direction of the elevator, not really caring if people watched her rushing –if there was one thing she should care about was Ino's fierce temper.

Once the elevator was in sight, Sakura had just barely made it as she hurried over to the closing doors, and pressed her desired floor button.

She sighed in relief as she glanced around, hoping that the man she had just seen before was here as she didn't get the chance to thank him for returning her favourite clip. But disappointment struck her as he appeared to be nowhere in sight.

Sakura sighed as she waited patiently to arrive on her floor as people came and departed from the elevator, until she was completely alone and like before the doors were slowlyclosing much to Sakura's annoyance until a hand propped itself between the doors and pushed it back until the person could manage to squeeze himself through.

It was almost like déjà vu; expect this guy wasn't the same one as before. But that didn't stop Sakura from staring at him from the corner of her eye; he had bright blonde hair with cerulean eyes to match. But to Sakura, he _also _seemed rather familiar but she just couldn't remember where she had seen him.

He reached out to press the floor button, but it seemed that it had already been picked –by a certain pink haired girl.

"Oh, you're going to that floor too huh?" He inquired curiously; she detected a hint of amusement.

Sakura merely nodded in reply, not really wanting to get into a conversation as they were reaching the floor.

"I'm Naruto, and you are?" He said a grin was plastered across his lips as he held out a hand towards Sakura, who reluctantly shook his hand and answered in a monotone tone "Sakura, nice to meet you."

"Sakura, huh?" The grin still intact, as Sakura averted her gaze towards her nails which seemed to be quite interesting at that moment.

"Yeah." She said simply.

"So would you like to get a coffee later?" He offered his tone stayed friendly, his eyes glued to Sakura's figure.

"No thanks, I've got plans." Sakura declined dryly, as the elevator door 'dinged' as she stepped forward, very much wanting to leave this rather awkward conversation.

"Oh alright then, well here's my number just in case you change your mind." He winked playfully, as he walked out of the elevator and into a different direction.

Sakura snorted as she too walked out and wandered towards the room that she and Ino shared, her gaze flickering back to the card that the guy had just given her.

_Naruto Uzumaki,_

With the number lying underneath the name, with Uzumaki Corp written at the bottom.

She laughed at the attempt of the poor guy who had trying to get her out for coffee; _yeah right _as if coffee was the only thing on his probably perverted mind.

'Naruto Uzumaki' Sakura wondered _why _that name sounded was so familiar?

Sakura shrugged the thought away as she entered the room, and handed the papers onto Ino's deserted desk.

It seemed like Karin had already left, so where exactly was Ino?

"Sakura! I have a surprise for _yoooooou_!" Ino's voice sang from the other side of the door, as the said object sprung open revealing the blonde girl.

"What now Ino." Sakura deadpanned as she settled back into her desk and drank some of her coffee that surprising stillwarm.

"I've planned us _double _dates for this evening!" She squealed, only earning the sound of coffee being spit out.

"What!" Sakura wheezed, as her eyes widened by Ino's sudden plan.

"Yeah I know you're happy Sakura, I too cannot believe how _fabulous _I am." Ino grinned as she returned back into her desk.

Sakura groaned as she rubbed her forehead, did Ino _have _to be dense sometimes?

"So Ino, who are the _lovely _guys we will be seeing tonight?" Sakura's strained voice questioned.

"Well I'm going to be going with _the _Sasuke Uchiha and _you _my dear Sakura will be going with _the _Naruto Uzumaki!" She squealed in happiness as she continued with her work, _obviously _not noticing the sudden angry aura of Sakura.

'_No fucking way am I going out with __**him**_.'

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**Edited: 17/02/10 **

A/N: Hey guys! I'm _really, really _sorry for the late update! I hope you liked it ^^

So I'll like to thank my reviewers,

Geniusly-Unique: Thanks, I'm glad you liked the chapter! Sorry for the late update DX Hope you can forgive me, *Puppy dog eyes*

Shubhs: Thank you very much! Ah, at the moment the pairings are SakuXMulti so Gaara & Sasuke like her =3 Oh I'll consider adding a little sprinkle of NejiTen :)

Bochixx: Lol, I know what you mean. Sakura actually squealing..? Nah, ^^ Thanks for reviewing!

Thanks for reviewing guys!!

Please review!

Saku-Chan


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